The Luna Stone

For a year and a half, we searched for the right piece of land in Playa del Carmen. We were deliberate, almost stubborn, about where we would build. The site had to sit between 10th and 20th Avenues, and between Constituyentes and 34th Street. That rectangle on the map was everything. Outside of it, we simply were not interested.

On the 3rd of December 2021, we had all but made up our minds to buy a lot that never truly felt right. It was slightly too small, and it sat on 38th Street and 20th Avenue, just outside our target zone. We were scheduled to sign the contract at noon.

At 11 o'clock that morning, our broker sent a message: someone else had just signed for the land minutes earlier, at a higher price. The deal was gone. We felt a bit of disappointment, but deep down we both sensed it had happened for a reason. It was not our land. Something better was waiting.

That same morning I opened Mercado Libre on a whim, and instead of searching for land as I usually would, I found myself in the house listings. One property stopped me. It had been posted the night before. In this part of Playa del Carmen, almost nothing had changed hands in years. The location was extraordinary.

I messaged the owner straight away. He was a lawyer based in Cancun and could only show the property that Saturday, the 4th of December, at 10 in the morning. My partner Constanza is also a lawyer. I already had a feeling this could be something special.

Saturday morning I arrived first to see the property while Constanza was finishing at the gym. When she arrived and we met with the owners together, we learned the full story. A developer had agreed to buy this land three months earlier and for three months had been avoiding the closing. The owners were patient but they had run out of time for games. They wanted someone who would actually show up.

After the showing, Constanza and I walked next door to a cafe called Choux Choux. Over coffee, within ten minutes, I had drafted a letter of offer on my phone and sent it to the owners. Ten minutes after that, the response came back: accepted. This was the first time we had ever set foot on this land.

Our closing date was set for March 2022. During those three months, from December through March, we worked with our architects to develop the building concept. Both Constanza and I have always had a quiet affinity for signs, cycles, and the energy of the moon. Nothing obsessive. Just a soft belief that the world moves in patterns if you pay attention.

We decided to call the project Luna. The name felt right. Elegant, timeless, and tied to something bigger than bricks and concrete. We began designing around it.

Three months after signing, we finally received the keys. This was only the second time we had ever accessed the property. We opened the gate, walked into the driveway, and stopped.

The decision was made without debate. Whatever happened to that house, and it would eventually be demolished to make way for the building, that stone was coming with us. We would cut it out, store it safely, and find a home for it in the finished building.

For over two years, through the entire construction process, through the foundations, the structure rising level by level, and eight floors taking shape, the Moon Stone was kept in secure off-site storage. It waited patiently while the building around it grew.

As construction neared its end, we brought the stone back. We placed it into the wall of the reception area, the first thing residents and guests see when they arrive. A quiet reminder of the journey that led to this building existing at all.

The Moon Stone is not decoration. It is the origin story of Luna, made physical. It is proof that this place was always meant to exist, and it was always meant to be called Luna.